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July 13, 2015

Boca Rocks a Thundershirt and Ruby Rolls in Her Travel Crate

Ready to rock thunderstorms and silly human holidays.

The Fourth of July was rough for us. I live just five minutes from the light rail station, and its large, empty parking lot is the ideal place for people to set off (illegal) fireworks. When we walk over there, the asphalt is littered with the remnants of things that go bang in the night. This has been going on since about the first of July, and even last night we heard some more pops and crackles. It's getting old. Ruby isn't as bothered by them, and in fact her thunderstorm phobia has been improving as well, but Boca is terrified of fireworks. I'm not sure if she has bad memories of them from her life on the street (I recently watched a video in which a camera is attached to a street dog in Mumbai, and children chase the dog with firecrackers) or just thinks the end of the world is coming, but she has grown increasingly worse and developed some unfortunate associations. Since some of the loudest explosions happened just after we went to bed several nights in a row, even after trying to stay up late watching loud TV, Boca is now afraid to sleep on the bed when the window is open (which is a necessity when you don't have AC on a 90 degree day).

Now that the fireworks should be winding down (except for a local display scheduled for the 25th celebrating the city's anniversary when we plan to skip town), I decided to purchase a Thundershirt for Boca, and I sure wish I had done so sooner. We were able to try it out on Thursday night when I arrived home from dinner with a friend in an impressive lightening storm, complete with sub-woofer thunder. There was a noticeable change in Boca as soon as she was swaddled in her pink polo. Rather than quaking and panting, she simply curled up in the bathroom with the fan running and seemed almost comfortable. She was able to fall asleep next to the bedroom door within minutes of going upstairs to bed. Last night I put it on again after we heard those firecrackers, and she curled up next to me on the sofa instead of hiding in corners. She even seemed to recognize that it helped her, because as soon as she saw me unfold it and say "Do you want your shirt?" she came over to be wrapped up. Ruby has a Thundershirt, too, but the difference it makes for Boca is much more dramatic. I am so glad to have it on hand now.

Ready to roll in calm, quiet style.

Boca wasn't the only one to try out something new this weekend. For a while now I've been looking at travel crates for Ruby. Her reactivity in the car is stressful for everyone, and not exactly safe if she sees a bike, motorcycle or dog before I can steel myself for her shrill and frantic barking. Counter-conditioning while driving isn't an option. Early on, I did transport Ruby in her crate, but she would get carsick and throw up every time. I related this to riding in a crate, but I now think that it was carsickness in general which she has outgrown. With an upcoming trip to the vet during rush hour for her annual wellness check, I decided it was time to implement a more peaceful commute. I ended up choosing this crate because it was inexpensive, I liked the size options and it had good reviews. It's lightweight, a cinch to assemble, and has adorable bone-shaped mesh windows. It has zip doors on the top and the front. I would not consider this crate for daily, unsupervised use, but for car travel I think it's perfect.

After setting it up with a comfy crate mat, I coaxed Ruby in with yellow cheese and set it up in the car. I can't tell you how wonderful it was not to hold my breath whenever I saw something Ruby would react to, or dread hitting a red light at an intersection where cyclists waited at the crosswalk. Ruby was a little nervous in the crate, but nothing like the overstimulated state she is in if we have the misfortune of being passed by a Harley tour or a dog barking in the back of a truck. Talk about a game-changer! I'll be much more apt to take Ruby more places now that the getting there isn't such an ordeal. It was poor planning to make her first trip in her travel den one to the vet, but she did great at her appointment and even did some of her tricks for the vet. Yesterday I improved the association by taking The Ginger Sisters to my barn for a hike on the property, and by the time I snapped the above photo she was loading up happily on her own. Another win for management of the reactive dog!

15 comments:

I love these stories. Thank you so very much. The product that changed our life was The Puller. The purple rings I'm always raving about. It made it easier for us to keep the dogs attention and exercise with them at home. This weekend, we tracked down the 10th puller that's been missing for a while. Scout got so excited trying to choose a ring out of a pile - I wish I had a camera.

Glad that these products are working for your girls. The fireworks are ridiculous and I hate them. They weren't so bad this year, but they've been crappy in years past. This year, our dogs barely noticed which is such a huge difference.

I can see how much fun your dogs would have with the Puller with the space you have for them to run and chase it! The Ginger Sisters like it, too, and I really love the material, although I have to keep them away from Boca as she will chew them to bits. It's amazing how one product can make all the difference!

Omg! I recently bought the same crate for our dogs in the car (I love how easy it is to use too!). My reasoning was that the car is technically not mine and I wanted to keep the dogs from filthying up the seats BUT when I took Brodie on a drive yesterday I found myself wondering why on EARTH I hadn't thought of it sooner. He didn't once react to joggers or dogs that we passed because I don't think he really saw them. Game changer.

Sometimes the solution is easier than we can imagine. Ruby definitely can't see out of it since the size we have sits below the windows. Several motorcycles did pass us yesterday but the noise alone didn't seem to bother her. It's so much safer as well if we were to get into an accident or were stranded since she'd already be contained. It only took me two years to make life easier for us...

My Kizzie isn't bothered by storms and is a good little girl in the car. However... my Koko suffers from both of those maladies - fear of thunder and he is insane when we go for car rides -- reacts exactly like your Ruby does (did). He has a thundershirt - which helps a bit for storms, but he still gets a little anxious. I keep meaning to try it on him for car rides and keep forgetting. However after hearing your success story with the crate (and it is something our trainer has suggested as well) I definitely need to get one for him. Thank you for the link!

I'm so glad that you've found these things for your girls! They're both so cute, chilling in their new gear. <3

Our life changing products? Hmm. Probably a comfy back clip harness and a 20 ft long line. We had stopped hiking for a few months because every time we did, the humans got frustrated by stopping every few feet and Nala practiced behavior that undid any meager progress we were making on loose leash walking. With the long line, Nala gets to explore more freely so she acclimates more quickly, and the humans have more fun, too--all of which means we go hiking more often, which is awesome. We're even beginning to feel like we could trust Nala off leash--which would, of course, be another game changer.

Great solutions! A Thundershirt was very helpful to Shyla in coping with her other non-noise-related fears. She used to wear it to town every time we went, and it helped a lot. I'm glad that Boca loves hers!

So glad you found some solutions! I wished the ThunderShirt worked for Pike. It helps with Nola's mild separation anxiety (which only happens if we're away from home), but of course it doesn't work for the dog that needs it!

I have been recently thinking of getting a crate for car travel as well. My dog sits well in the car, but I get nervous about longer trips especially on highways. Just wondering what size crate did you get for Ruby?

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